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Teddy Bears. The Brothers Grimm. Danger Cluck.
Episode 912
912. We look at who the Teddy is in "teddy bears" and reveal why the Brothers Grimm, from fairytales, were also massively important in linguistics.
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3 years, 5 months ago
Weird punctuation with 'Jr.' Carl's Jr. Hockey.
Episode 911
911. In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we cover a bunch of interesting things about labels such as "Jr.," "Sr.," and "III." Plus, we look at th…
3 years, 5 months ago
Inflation, quiet quitting, and "un-" words, like "undressed," that can have two meanings. Gotcha Day.
Episode 910
910. The final Grammar Girl word-of-the-year vote came down to "inflation" and "quiet quitting." We look at the interesting arguments voters made for…
3 years, 5 months ago
How COVID Changed the Way We Think About Words. How to Write Dates. Prefeed.
Episode 909
909. In honor of 2023, we’ll talk about writing dates. And then we talk about a fascinating study about how COVID has changed the way we think about …
3 years, 5 months ago
World Cup Words. The Origin of Toasting. Says.
Episode 908
908. You had word-related questions after watching the World Cup. We have answers! And for the holidays, we look at the origin of toasting with wine …
3 years, 6 months ago
Goblin Mode, Woman, & More. Words of the Year, with Kory Stamper
Episode 907
907. The fabulous Kory Stamper, author of "Word by Word," joins me this week to talk about words of the year: how they get chosen, what makes each on…
3 years, 6 months ago
The Wonderful Words of Christmas
Episode 906
906. A'wassailing. Noel. Mistletoe. Trolling the ancient Yuletide carol, and more. We look into the wonderful words of Christmas and their origins —…
3 years, 6 months ago
We found the book!
Episode 905
905. Bonus Episode! You helped solve the mystery of my father's favorite childhood book. I also share quick and dirty tips from my email newsletter,…
3 years, 6 months ago
What's a Honeyfuggler? 'Through' vs. 'Throughout.' Arriversary.
Episode 904
903. "Through" and "throughout" may seem interchangeable, but they're not. We have some creative memory tricks to help you remember the difference. …
3 years, 6 months ago
A Strange Use of 'Said.' Kith and Kin. New Scrabble Words!
Episode 903
903. A listener heard some jargon, and then got annoyed by "said" jargon, so we explored why. Plus, who the heck are your kith? And finally, we got …
3 years, 7 months ago